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posted on September 02, 2008

Good news for Canadian consumers: Monsanto is dropping a genetically engineered hormone for milk

Canada — The power of global consumer pressure has forced U.S. chemical giant Monsanto to get out of producing the bovine growth hormone rBST, a genetically engineered (GE) product to increase milk production in dairy cows.

Published: 08 August 2008
Source: greenpeace.org


Is this cow free of bovine growth hormone?

This is good news for Canadian consumers because right now they may be eating processed foods—including ice cream and infant formula—that are made with rBST modified milk ingredients. Canadians continue to eat products with rBST even though Canada, and also Europe, has banned milk and cheese made with the hormone for the past decade.

Global and consumer markets have rejected rBST and that has caused Monsanto’s decision to get out of the rBST business in the U.S..

"This is a big victory for American and Canadian consumers," said Josh Brandon, agriculture campaigner with Greenpeace. "The massive and sustained rejection of rBST milk highlights even further the need for Canada to require labelling of all genetically engineered foods."

What is rBST?

Bovine somatotropin or BST is a hormone produced by cows during lactation. In the 1990’s Monsanto synthezed this drug by forcing cow genes into e. coli bacteria to create recombinant BST (rBST). RBST is given to cows to increase the milk production, preventing the cows mammary cells from dying off after the normal period of time. Numerous health and safety concerns have been raised about the use of rBST including increased incidence of mastitis in cows, increased use of antibiotics, and most disturbingly elevated levels of IFG -1, and insulin related chemical that is linked to breat, prostate and rectal cancer, reduced life expectancy in animals and increased incidence of twins in humans.

Safeway, Starbucks and Kraft recently announced they are removing milk produced using rBST from their stores or products in the U.S.. The decision to get out of the rBST business is a second rBST setback for Monsanto this year. The company failed in its attempt to stem consumer rejection, losing bids in several U.S. states to prevent dairies from labelling their products as rBST free.

In Canada, rBST was banned in 1998 after scientists at Health Canada publicly raised health and safety concerns about the product. Some of the health concerns of rBST include: toxic effects on cows such as mastitis, increased contamination in milk by pus and antibiotics, and increased levels of a cancer-causing agent IGF-1. The U.S. approved rBST in 1993.

"If genetically engineered products like this were safe, Monsanto would put ‘made with GE’ in big block letters on all its products," said Brandon. "Instead Monsanto is doing everything it can to obstruct the consumer’s right to know what they are eating. Monsanto’s strategy backfires, once consumers start asking questions about the health and environmental safety of GE products."

We have more information on Monsanto on our website. This link takes you to background information on the film "The World According to Monsanto", a must see.

This link takes you to a Greenpeace fact sheet on the 7 Deadly Sins of Monsanto.


Read more News.


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